Tuesday, July 21

I mentioned "The Land Rover Rule" here. Yesterday, I realized there is a second "Land Rover Rule." It's as important as the first.

Land Rover Rule #1 - When contemplating a maneuver on a bike, ask oneself "would I do this if I were in the Land Rover?" (alternately,insert the make of your own motorized toy here). If the answer is "no," one should VERY carefully consider if it's smart on a bike. It's more than academic, I've been hit twice in Jaguars by motorists turning left into me. The second time involved a motorist who'd been waved ahead by someone who didn't see me. I have no clue how you miss a car that weighs 4000 pounds and will do double any USA speed limit, but that should send a subtle (NOT!) message to any cyclists reading this. The end result is I won't ever turn in the Land Rover because someone waves me on. The Land Rover rule tells me NEVER to make a turn on my bike based on someone waving. Such gestures are always sincere, but that doesn't tell me the person knows what other traffic's doing. When it happened in the Jag, it bent a lot of sheet metal. I don't want to know what it'd to to me on a bike. I got weak once in my new commute - I could see well enough that I knew I'd make it OK, but that led directly to Failsafe #1. It's the Land Rover rule in action. Keep moving - and turn when you see it's safe.

Land Rover Rule #2 - When contemplating an action in the Land Rover (alternately, insert the make of your own motorized toy here) , ask oneself "would I do this if I were on the bike?" This rule came into focus when I contemplated the wisdom of taking photos while hurtling down the Alliance Gateway Freeway. Sometimes, we just have more sense when on a bike - and now you have photographic proof...

4 comments:

You're braver than me! Mostly, I get off the road before I try to work the camera.

The photo of the Cabela's service road is one of very few that I have taken from my own bike while riding. Coming up, before too long, are a few I took on the bike while zooming through parking lots - which tells you something about those parking lots. Basically, I'm CHICKEN! It's a curse of being an oldest child who's trying to extend a streak of never having broken a bone...

(my one car accident was b/c someone waved a car through traffic and they hit me. I was in a car too. I was in the left turn only with a green light. To my right were two lanes of stopped traffic at a red light. Of the street to the far right was a driveway and a young woman trying to get onto the street. CArs in the right lane waved her through even though she could not see me or my lane. I could not see her until I passed the stopped nice driver and saw her car coming straight at me.

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Context

Subject MatterMostly it's about local transportation cycling, as it exists in the here and now. It's got a smattering of other gratuitous toy recreation thrown in to keep y'all a little off balance. For those that don't know me, toy recreation means English & Italian cars, aircraft - and downhill skiing.